


Secondary

by madsthenerdygirl



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 00:54:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6352447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsthenerdygirl/pseuds/madsthenerdygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blue Aldrich has grown up and is now an intelligent paleontology student, eager to work under the great Dr. Grant and his former protégé, Dr. Billy Brennan, now his field partner. But then Blue gets a visit from one Lex Kirby, head of InGen, asking for her help, forcing Blue to return to Isla Sorna. She's not alone, however…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. War Stories

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to my other fanfic "Primary." Both stories were originally posted in 2012 on fanfiction.net, and have now been crossposted here along with all of my other work.

"Blue!"

The young woman looked up from her work. Over at the tents, her boss was gesturing for her to come over. Blue Aldrich wiped the dirt from her face before taking a swig from her water bottle. The Argentinean sun was harsh and unforgiving, especially in this landscape of rock and bone. Blue gestured over to some volunteers.

"Help me get this bone clean and plastered!" She called. Three volunteers hurried over, bringing the proper supplies with them, and got to work at once. Blue observed them for a moment, then made her way towards the covered area. It wasn't much--just some tents that provided a bit of shade--but being out of the sun for a few minutes was always a blessing.

"What's up Billy?" She asked.

"We have a visitor," the professor said. Once the protégé of Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Billy Brennan was now a respected paleontologist in his own right. While in his late thirties, he had no wish to cease to venture out into the field to dig up more fossils. Blue had been a student of Dr. Grant's at Berkeley, and it was his idea that she join Billy on his latest dig.

"What kind of visitor warrants pulling me out of a dig in the middle of the day? We've still got half of a skeleton to expose," Blue said grumpily. "It'd better not be Nathan. I told him to relax and enjoy his honeymoon but he's convinced the skeleton's going to come to life and eat me."

While Blue and Nathan's parents had, indeed, split up and Nathan's father, Mr. Aldrich, had continued to pursue women like he pursued business opportunities, Blue had kept his name. They'd gone to all this trouble of changing her name, and nobody wanted to deal with the legal mess.

Of course, Blue couldn't tell Billy that Nathan's fears weren't exactly invalid.

"It's not your brother," Billy assured her. "It's the kind of visitor that… well…"

"So this is the dig site, huh?" A female voice said. A woman only a few years older than Blue strode over. She was wearing jeans, boots and a t-shirt, with a baseball cap on her head to shade her eyes. She had rather light blonde hair and large, warm brown eyes. She smiled and stuck her hand out. "Hi. You must be Miss Aldrich. I'm Alexis Kirby--call me Lex, everyone does."

"Kirby?" Blue blurted out. "As in, head of InGen Kirby?"

"That's the one." Lex nodded, smiling. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"So what brings a CEO like you out here to the edge of nowhere?" Blue asked. She liked Lex. She was different from any other sponsor she'd ever met.

"Well, I wanted to check out the dig and see how it was going, make sure that my money won't be wasted," Lex explained. "But I was also hoping to talk to you. Is there somewhere private that we can…?"

"Um, Billy? Mind if I use the trailer?" Blue asked, gesturing up the hill.

"Go right ahead," he said. "I'll be down here. Holler if you need me."

Blue led Lex up the hill and into the trailer. It didn't have air conditioning, but there was a fan going and it was indoors. Blue walked over to the sink. "Water? Juice? Soda?"

Lex Kirby shook her head. "Thanks, but no thanks." She sat down at the small table and gestured for Blue to do the same. Blue sat, eyeing the woman curiously. Lex Kirby, CEO of InGen and granddaughter to the original CEO and founder, John Hammond, was one of the youngest company heads in history. Following her uncle Peter Ludlow's feeble attempts to take over InGen before his tragic death (ruled as an accident, but Blue had reason to suspect there was more to the story), Lex had singlehandedly pulled InGen from the edge of bankruptcy and restored its place as a powerhouse of technological innovation. Along the way, she had also established the company as a major philanthropist in the field of science, including paleontology.

"Can I ask what this is about?" Blue asked. She was growing confused.

"When you were sixteen, you and your then-stepbrother Nathan Aldrich went on vacation to the Hamptons for the week during spring break, correct?" Lex asked.

That was the last thing Blue had expected her to say. "Um, well, yes, yes we did. But why–?"

"But you didn't go to the Hamptons, did you?" Lex asked.

"What are you suggesting?" Blue replied as calmly as she could.

Lex leaned forward. "You went to an illegal nightclub that had been built on the premises of a former InGen site, on an island off of Costa Rica."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Blue said indignantly.

"The island--that whole group of islands, in fact--is still owned by InGen. We have ways of finding these things out, Miss Aldrich."

"Are you accusing me of something?" Blue asked.

Lex sighed. "Look, I know that you won't want to talk about what happened. You broke at least a dozen international laws, but besides that what you went through was hell."

Blue's eyes flashed. Lex nodded. "I know what happened on that island."

"You have no idea what happened," Blue ground out.

"Maybe not exactly, but I can make a pretty good guess." Lex leaned back. "Let's see… everyone's partying and having a good time, when suddenly dinosaurs appear. I'd say raptors. People start dying, everyone's screaming and running around, and all you want to do is  _get out_. So you do. You spend the next couple of days in fear, making your way back to freedom, thinking every shadow is a predator. You finally know what it's like to be an animal, and you hate it. Maybe you were with your brother the entire time--maybe you weren't, and you had to spend every minute fearing for his safety or thinking he's dead. You can't eat, you can't sleep, and you are so, so frightened."

Lex's voice had lowered a timbre and was shaking slightly. She was staring ahead, but Blue got the distinct feeling that Lex couldn't see Blue or anything in the trailer. She was seeing something else… from a long time ago…

"Everything, everything fades away, until it's just about surviving. Your nerves are frayed beyond the breaking point, and you can't stop your heart from constantly racing no matter how hard that you try. You manage to outwit what's stalking you, because you're just frantic enough and desperate enough that your brain manages to make some connections and get you out. But it's only by luck--sheer fucking luck--that you make it out, alive. And as the island fades away from you and you finally get the chance to sleep, to relax, to  _breathe_ … you promise yourself that you are never, ever going to go through something like that ever again."

Blue stared at her. "You… you've been there, too."

Lex broke her trance and started a little, staring at the girl across the table. "Yes," she said quietly. "Yes, I was. My brother Timmy and I… our parents were going through a divorce. Our mother… she was taking it very hard. She had no time for us. So Grandfather said that we could spend the weekend with him. We took the helicopter to the island, where there were some other scientists… a Dr. Ian Malcolm, who specializes in cosmic theory with a side of evolution, a Dr. Ellie Sattler--oh, wait, she's married Dr. Grant now… yes, Alan was there, too. He was so cranky at first but he kept us alive… still sends me a present every Christmas." Lex smiled sadly. "There were others… but they didn't make it. Grandfather was so disappointed. It was his big idea, a wonderful idea… and it wasn't just about the money for him. It was the vision that counted. But he did have a tendency to bite off more than he could chew, and in this case it cost lives. Jurassic Park had to be shut down.

"You can't contain nature, Miss Aldrich. You can try, but she will always find a way."

Blue shook herself. "Why are you coming to me, then? You want to swap war stories?"

Lex shook her head. "I wish. Miss Aldrich–"

"Call me Blue."

"Blue." Lex smiled. "Blue, I'm going to ask you to do something that I'm too much of a coward to attempt. I could say that responsibilities keep me here, but the fact is I'm too damn scared. I haven't even seen  _King Kong_  because of the panic attack I'd have."

"What do you want?" Blue asked. But that heavy feeling of foreboding, one she'd only felt once before, had returned. The last time she'd felt it had been the night before she'd gone to Isla Nublar.

Lex sighed. "Blue… I need you to go back."


	2. Bunch of Idiots

"You  _what_?" Blue asked.

Lex sighed. "I hate to ask this of you, but I need you to go. I wouldn't ask you if this weren't a dire emergency."

"The fate of the world better be at stake," Blue said, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.

"Look, there was a second expedition a couple of years after I went to the island. Grandfather was sick, the board was in control, and my uncle Peter was trying to take over. He went to the island to go capture a bunch of the dinosaurs and bring them back to San Diego to create a Jurassic Park there. My grandfather hired Ian--Dr. Malcolm, that is--and a few others to stop them. When they returned, Grandfather made the islands a nature preserve, never to be touched. Only the two largest islands had dinosaurs on them, but the other three are filled with modern-day wonders and deserve to be left untouched as well. And apparently, even hang-gliding too close to them is deadly."

"Hang-gliding? What?" Blue said, shocked.

Lex nodded. "My husband Eric was doing that with his mother's boyfriend and ended up on the island. He survived all on his own there for a couple of weeks. That's how we met, actually. He tracked me down and demanded answers."

"And now you're married," Blue said incredulously.

Lex smiled. She was clearly deliriously happy. "Yes. Crazy, isn't it? You'll meet him at the debriefing--that is, if you say yes."

"I still don't know why I would," Blue shot at her.

Lex ignored the crack. "Someone's been trying to capture dinosaurs again, Blue," she said. "I think it's BioSyn--they've always had it in for us--but it could be anyone. Your job would be to work with the others and stop them before they do any more harm."

"And who would these 'others' be?"

"Other veterans, so to speak. Roland Tembo, a big game hunter. He was once employed by Peter but left his employ because he didn't agree with his methods. Billy, of course…"

"Billy?" Blue was shocked.

"He never told you?" Lex asked. "Oh, well, I suppose he wouldn't, if he didn't know about your adventures. He went back with Dr. Grant to rescue Eric. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it once he knows that you knew."

Blue would have felt betrayed except that she hadn't told anyone about her time on 'Jurassic Park' either. It just wasn't something that you talked about. Aside from the fact that people would think that you were crazy, the trauma was a little too deep to discuss lightly. And Blue hadn't just gone through terror and fear like the others had--she'd broken her heart, as well, and deeply hurt a dear friend. She could only imagine what Billy might have gone through, and she could understand why he wouldn't want to talk about it with anyone. Not even his favorite student.

Well, his second-favorite student. There was that cocky grad student called…

"Tim Murphy will be going as well."

"Oh, no," Blue shook her head empathetically. "No way. I am not working with that guy. He's insufferable. Thinks he knows everything about dinosaurs."

Lex arched an eyebrow. "Billy insisted," she said. "And I think he'd make a valuable member of your team."

Blue rolled her eyes. "Fine. Anyone else?"

"Nope. Just you four. Sarah Malcolm wanted to go back, as did Nick, but Ian refused to let Sarah within a mile of the place and Nick's head of Greenpeace now so he couldn't find the time."

"Nick Van Owen, right? He went there?" Blue asked.

"Yes. He went along with Ian when they went to stop Peter. He wanted to stop the operation as he felt it was against conservation."

"And this Sarah is…?"

"She's Ian's wife, formally Sarah Harding. She's an amateur photographer and behavioral paleontologist. She'll be at the meeting, as will Ian and Nick. Alan and Ellie should be there, along with Ian's daughter Kelly. Eric, of course, plus me. We'll be discussing methods and preparing you as best we can before you set out."

Lex stood up. "I'll email you the information."

Blue frowned. "I never said I was onboard for this."

Lex smiled. "Maybe not in so many words, but you wouldn't be asking all of these questions if you weren't at least thinking of going."

Blue sighed. "All right, all right, I'm in. I'm a supreme idiot, but I'm in."

"Great." Lex beamed. She made to leave, but paused. "Oh, and what's your email address?"

"Redraptor@gmail.com."

"I'll be in touch," Lex said, exiting the trailer.

Blue slumped forward onto the table. "What the fuck did I just agree to?" She muttered.

* * *

Blue had been to some pretty fancy houses in her time as daughter of one of the richest bankers in the world, but few measured up to the Hammond Estate. With the death of Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow, the entire estate, including the majority of InGen's stock, had passed on to Hammond's daughter--Lex's mother. With no head for business, she let her daughter run things. And run things Lex did.

Honestly, the massive, ornate house, with its dark wood paneling and grand staircase rivaling the  _Titanic_ , didn't seem to be Lex's kind of place. But Blue had heard that the girl and her brother were close with their deceased grandfather, and they must have spent a lot of time there growing up.

Blue was ushered in by an honest-to-God maid, who led her to the main dining room. The massive table was littered with food, from hors d'oevre to a massive plate of chocolates. Several people, no more than ten, were scattered about the room making conversation. Blue recognized Billy and Alan Grant, but none of the others.

"Hey, Blue," a voice behind her said. Blue didn't even jump. She'd been through much more startling things. She rolled her eyes and turned.

"Hello, Tim," she responded evenly.

"They never told me that you were in on this." Tim gestured towards the group. "I gotta warn you, you might not like what you're signing up for."

"Of course I'm not going to like it," Blue said. "No smart person would."

"Then call me an idiot." Tim grinned, sauntering past her and into the room. "Lex!" He called out. He grinned and gave her a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

So  _that_  was how he got to be a part of this. It was all about networking, even in the world of science. Blue sighed and helped herself to some food, making her way over to Dr. Grant. The man was older, clearly, but he still radiated strength and assurance. He was never a man that you wanted to cross. The professor was currently arguing with Billy, his former protégé and a frequent source of exasperation. Grant's wife, paleobotonist Ellie Grant (formerly Sattler) watched the exchange with amusement. She caught Blue's eye and smiled.

"You must be Blue!" She said, her smile widening to show her teeth. She had a thin face with beautiful cheekbones and hair that was still bouncy and wavy. She gestured for Blue to join them. "It's so good to finally meet you--Alan's praised you up and down."

"Has he?" Billy said. "Well it's nice to know that he does dole out compliments on occasion. Even if I never get one." He winked at Blue to show that he didn't mean what he said.

Grant huffed. Blue just grinned.

"I read that article you published on the fossilization of plants," Blue told Ellie. "It was fascinating! I loved it."

"Thank you," Ellie said, laughing self-consciously.

The two women chatted for a minute until a tan man with graying, curly hair tapped Ellie on the shoulder. "Are you telling this lovely young lady about the time you stuck your hands in dino poop?" He asked.

"Ian!" Ellie protested, laughing.

"She did that?" Blue was chuckling as well.

"Yup. And I still flirted with her. 'Course, that was before I knew that Grant here had stolen her heart…" Ian grinned. "Dr. Ian Malcolm, by the way."

"Blue Aldrich." Blue shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

A petite woman with flowing ginger locks and a wide face marked by prominent cheekbones approached, wrapping her arms around Ian and resting her head on his shoulder. She reminded Blue of Caleb, a friend of Nathan's and the wife of his other friend Oliver. "I hope this guy here hasn't sprung his water-droplet speech on you." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Sarah."

"Nice to meet you, Sarah. I'm Blue," Blue responded, smiling.

"Oh God, he gave it to you, too?" Ellie asked, turning to the redhead.

"I'm pretty sure he gave it to every girl he wanted to flirt with."

Ellie laughed. "Oh God. Only a scientist, right?"

There was the sound of glass being hit with a fork. "If everyone could please come and sit down, we can get this meeting underway," Lex called.

Blue followed the others and seated herself at the table. To her annoyance, Tim slipped in and sat down on her right-hand side. Lex was at the head of the table and Blue was seated on her left-hand side, which meant that she'd have to look past Tim to see Lex. On Blue's left sat an incredibly tall, tanned man with a boxy face, short dark hair, and surprisingly soft eyes.

"Nick Van Owen," the man introduced himself to Blue quietly. "Head of–"

"Greenpeace," Blue finished for him. "I'm a great fan of your recent work with finding gasless methods of public transportation. And, of course, the whole sneak-into-companies-and-take-incriminating-photos-or-sabatoge-them stuff." She grinned.

Nick chuckled. "That's from my younger days. I'm far too busy putting on a suit and arguing with corporate nutjobs nowadays."

"Pity," Blue replied.

"You all know why we're gathered here," Lex began. Blue turned to look at her. She sounded exhausted, and looked pretty worn out too, what with the dark shadows on the skin under her eyes, the hastily done-up hair, and her slightly too-pale skin. But the young CEO soldiered on. "So I won't go into that.

"I'm afraid that I don't have many facts for you. Ever since the San Diego mishap, InGen has kept eyes and ears on the chain of islands containing Isla Sorna and Isla Nublar. Anyone tries to go onto the island, any mysterious deaths… we know about it. These sources recently confirmed that a strange team of men was making interesting inquiries about the island, and that black helicopters were sighted flying in the direction of the island. These helicopters made about six trips over the course of the next two days. Going by the description and a couple of other factors, I have reason to believe that these men are working for BioSyn, our long-time rivals. They tried to steal dinosaur embryos of ours once upon a time, and now they're going after the actual dinosaurs themselves.

"As you all know, we can't let this happen. I think we all have, in our own ways, grown to care for these prehistoric creatures, and want them left in peace. But we also know how destructive they are, and how it is impossible to contain them. I have no doubts that this expedition, even if it were to succeed in getting the company their dinosaurs, would end up costing many lives. It will go south. It's just a matter of when. Nature always finds a way, and I have no desire to lose the lives of innocent civilians once more.

"So here's the plan: those islands are owned by InGen. Trespassing of any kind is illegal. Stealing InGen property is also illegal. I need a small group of people to go in, get photos of the BioSyn team doing its dirty work, and get out. Nobody wants this getting out to the general public, so we can settle with a lawsuit. But the point is, we get them off that island. Scaring the team off the island would be a plus, but I'll settle for just getting evidence against them and sending it to their Board of Directors before they can steal a baby T-Rex." Lex looked around the table. "Any questions?"

"So who all is going?" Ian asked.

"Billy here, along with Roland--Ian, Sarah and Nick, you all might remember him--and the two grad students, Tim and Blue."

Grant looked over at Tim, and their eyes locked. They seemed to be passing silent messages back and forth. Blue frowned inwardly. Tim knew Grant? And apparently knew him very well, if the communicating-with-significant-gazes thing was anything to go by.

"Well, I guess we know who the idiots of the group are," Grant said at last.

"You're helping us out," Billy pointed out. "I think we're all a bunch of idiots."

Roland Tembo, the big game hunter, snorted. He was looking down at the table, having not said a word the entire time. An African-American woman about Lex's age folded her arms. "You'll need to know how to defend against raptors. That's the number one thing. T-Rex might be big but he's not intelligent the way they are. It's like having humans fight you." She shuddered, as if remembering something horrible. She probably was.

Ian laid a hand on her arm, and she nodded, mouthing  _I'm okay_. Blue realized that this must be Kelly, Ian's daughter.

"They can be outsmarted," a tall, blonde man sitting on Lex's right side stated. Going by the way he held Lex's hand and the wedding ring on his finger, he must be Eric Kirby. "If you disorient them, preferably blind them like with a smoke grenade or something, you can get away. But the best thing is to avoid their territory altogether."

"Wait--a smoke grenade?" Nick said. "Where'd you get that?"

Eric shrugged. "I found a bunker stocked with stuff and improvised."

Lex squeezed his hand, smiling at him.

Blue looked around the room. Here were people who had all been through the same thing that she had--well, except for Tim. He was a mystery. But everyone else was a comrade-in-arms. Despite their trauma, they'd moved on with their lives. And in spite of everything, they loved these creatures. And they were willing to go back, and risk the lives they'd so carefully rebuilt, in order to save them.

Blue remembered what she'd left behind the last time she'd been to Jurassic Park. Her heart clenched. This was the very reason she'd abandoned Red, forced him to stay on the island while she returned to civilization. She'd wanted to protect him from people like BioSyn.

Now he, and every other dinosaur, was threatened.

Not on her watch.

"So?" She said. Everyone turned to her. "What's the plan?"


	3. Return

Blue couldn't stop herself from pressing her face to the glass as the helicopter descended. Despite the stifling and exhilarating nature of foreboding thrumming through her veins she couldn't help but feel a little excited. She'd always loved dinosaurs, and her little adventure a few years ago had done nothing to dampen it. Now she was going to once again do something that every paleontologist dreamed of: she was going to walk with dinosaurs.

"Great view, huh?" Tim asked, grinning at her. Blue shot him a look. He kept looking at her as if he knew something that she didn't, and it irked her. Not to mention she still didn't know why the hell he was chosen to tag along. So, yeah, she was a little pissed at him.

Okay, maybe severely pissed at him.

The copter made a soft landing on the concrete helipad--the sight where, just a few years prior, Blue, her brother, and his friends had fought for their lives against a pack of raptors. They wouldn't have made it, if it weren't for an unexpected advantage. Red had succeeded in killing the pack leader, the dominant male or female (Blue still wasn't sure), startling the raptors and earning them the few minutes they needed for the helicopter to reach them.

Remembering her raptor made Blue's stomach flop and clench in sadness and regret. She loved Red. He was more than just a pet--he was intelligent, and understood so much. She missed him every day.

"You okay, Blue?" Billy asked.

Blue nodded. "I'm fine."

Roland turned to look at her, and Blue shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The hunter hadn't said much, but when he looked at Blue like that she felt like he knew everything.

"We've landed!" The pilot shouted.

Everyone disembarked and unloaded the equipment. Billy spoke with the pilot, confirming that the man would be able to pick them up whenever they radioed. Once he got the message, he'd arrive at the helipad within an hour. Their wireless radios would ensure that they could contact the pilot at any time.

"You ready?" Billy asked them as the pilot waved goodbye and the helicopter began to rise into the sky.

"Yup." Tim nodded.

Roland grunted.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Blue said, only half joking.

They began to trek down the road towards the former Jurassic Park hotel. It was the most likely place for the BioSyn group to being their operations, as it was a large building with plenty of room and a good number of dinosaur pens ready to go. As they walked, they all looked around at the jungle closing in on every side. The low-growing plants and shrubbery were beginning to overtake the road, and a few tree roots could be seen poking out of the ground. In about fifty or even as few as twenty years, this manmade path would vanish, consumed by the ever-spreading plants.

"So what's the plan?" Tim asked. "Just stroll in and take pictures?"

Blue glared at him.

"It'll be best if we wait until night," Roland said. "Set up camp nearby, then sneak in and take what we need."

"But the deadliest dinosaurs come out at night, just after sunset," Tim argued.

"We'll have to risk it," Billy decided.

"There will be predators about no matter what time of day it is," Blue said. She remembered being attacked by raptors in both the dead of night and the middle of the day. It made no difference to them what time of day it was. If they were hungry, it was time to hunt.

"What do you think they're planning to do with the dinosaurs once they've got 'em?" Tim asked.

"What do you think?" Billy replied. "Try and succeed where old Hammond and Ludlow failed. At least the old man was sensible enough to turn this into a preserve. I hear from Ian that Ludlow was a nasty piece of goods."

"That 'old man' made some mistakes, but he was a good man," Tim retorted. Blue was surprised to hear genuine anger in his voice. "Peter was cold-blooded, I'll give you that, but John Hammond was a visionary and a philanthropist. He just sometimes dreamed too big, that's all."

"All right, no need to get your panties in a twist," Billy chuckled.

"Were you this flippant when you worked under Grant?" Blue teased.

"I was twice as bad when I worked with Alan," Billy replied. "Just to drive him nuts."

Both Tim and Blue grinned, imagining the scene. Billy must have truly cost Grant some of his sanity. The two were almost complete opposites.

After a minute, Blue asked a question that had been tugging at her mind. "My worry isn't what they're going to do with the dinosaurs--that's rather obvious. My concern is what kind of dinosaurs they're going to go after. Herbivores are all right. They're nice to look at and easy to care for, and the visitors can possibly feed them. But they're not the main attraction. People want excitement, they want thrills. They want a good show. And sometimes, they want blood." She looked at the three men. "And any corporate exec in the entertainment business that's worth his salt will know that."

"They'll want a T-Rex, no doubt about that," Roland said. "Raptors, maybe."

Blue shuddered to think what methods the company might try to employ to catch a raptor.

"Spinosaurus," Billy muttered.

"What?" Blue sputtered. "They have a… they created a…" She swallowed. "Those things are fucking  _huge_."

"Yup." Billy nodded. "They can take down a small plane."

Blue searched his face for any sign of sarcasm or tomfoolery, but Billy's face was uncharacteristically serious. In fact, she would go so far as to say that he looked grim.

"They can't possibly hope to catch one of those," Blue protested feebly. "Even the idea of catching a T-Rex is ludicrous."

"It doesn't matter what the facts are," Roland said. There was no mistaking his face or tone of voice for anything but grim. "What matters is what the executives want. And if they want something, nothing gets in their way." He stared off into the looming wall of trees. "Not even human life," he added quietly.

Blue frowned but said nothing. The rest of the trek passed in relative silence, nobody wanting to risk either a predatory dinosaur or a sharp-eared BioSyn worker to hear them and come investigate. They reached the part where the road bent to the left, leading up to the big complex. Billy looked over at Roland, who veered left and silently led them off the trail and into the jungle.

Everyone took care to step carefully, keeping their senses peeled for anything out of the ordinary--a strange smell, a flash of movement, or a suspicious sound. When they reached a clump of trees, Roland held up a hand. They all stopped. Blue could just see the windows of the welcome center, the afternoon sunlight reflecting off of them and making her have to squint.

"We'll make camp here," Roland said quietly.

Everybody immediately dropped the equipment they'd been carrying. Each person had their own backpack of supplies. Billy had the camera equipment, Tim carried the sleeping bags, Blue got the survival gear and the food, and Roland had the weapons. Nobody wanted to have to use them, but they'd all taken a crash-course on the various guns and knives, just in case. They also had a blueprint of the building, a detailed map of the island (made by Lex, Ian, Ellie and Alan) and some other equipment.

"Anyone up for lunch? I don't know about you all, but I'm starving," Tim said, diving into the backpack that held the food.

Blue rolled her eyes, but held her hand out for an energy bar. Tim passed one to her, along with a water bottle. The two other men took food as well, and they all ate in silence, glancing over their shoulders every so often.

When they'd finished, they still had a couple of hours left until sunset. They all sat, staring at one another, for a good ten minutes or so, before Tim broke the silence.

"So, Billy--what gives?"

The others stared at him. Tim sighed. "Look, I've known you for five years, man. You never thought to tell me you'd been to Jurassic Park?"

Billy eyeballed him. "There are some things you just don't share, Tim, if you don't have to."

There was a very pregnant pause. Tim looked suitably chastised.

After a minute, Billy sighed. "Might as well,' He muttered. "Now that I'm back here." He looked at Blue. "I bet you've been dying to know as well, haven't you?"

Blue shrugged. "I'll tell if you will," she said. It was only fair.

Roland gave them all a look that dared them to suggest he also share. Billy ignored him and started.

"I was Grant's… well, I guess you could say protégé, for about six months when the whole thing started. We had different views on things, but I guess they hadn't really come up, or we hadn't realized just how different, until we were in the thick of things.

"Basically, Grant was asked by a couple claiming to be millionaires, named Amanda and Paul Kirby, to give them an aerial tour of the island. They were into thrills like that, they said. They'd even booked seats on the first commercial flight to the moon. Grant was all  _hell no_ , but then they promised to help fund his next expedition, so his  _hell no_  changed to  _why the hell not?_

"So he, for some insane reason, decided to bring me along. Probably thought it would be a nice treat for me to see real dinosaurs, even if it was from a fair distance. He told me about his first time on the island, both to warn me of the dangers and, frankly, to stop me from doing anything stupid like jumping out of the plane to investigate closer.

"Long story short, the Kirbys weren't millionaires--they weren't even married. Well, not anymore. They'd divorced about a year ago. Had a son, about eleven or twelve years old. Eric. You've met him, Lex's husband. Anyway, the kid had been parasailing or hang-gliding or something with Amanda's boyfriend just off the coast of the island. Something went wrong and they crashed onto the island. The boyfriend died but Eric… well, nobody knew. So the Kirbys raised up the money to hire a couple of machine-toting idiots and fooled Grant into being their guide so they could go find Eric. But it's Jurassic Park. Nothing goes the way it's supposed to. We got attacked by a fucking Spinosaurus, people died, yada yada yada…"

Billy sighed, passing a hand over his face. "It was awful. You know how you when you're watching a scary film, and a character's walking down a hallway or around a room or something, and the creepy music starts to play, and you begin to get nervous? You know that something's going to happen; you just don't know what. But then the creature jumps out or whatever and you jump, freak out a little, then the movie ends and the lights come on and you go home and unwind. You release all those nerves.

"Here… you don't. You don't ever lose that sense of foreboding; that feeling that something is coming… something is out there… It never, ever lets up. And it's Hell.

"It got to the point where I just wanted it to end. I wanted to get to the part where the boogey man jumps out. And then I did something really stupid. See, we found another lab where they were testing baby raptors and stuff. Pickled dinosaurs--that's not a sight you're going to forget any time soon. It's burned into your retinas. But there were eggs, and I thought, hey, maybe if I took one, we could study it when we got back, and maybe this trip wouldn't be such a fucking nightmare after all. I thought it was a great idea. It would revolutionize our field. And… yeah, yeah, I kind of craved the fame. I'll admit that was a factor. Well, Grant knocked that idiocy out of me pretty quickly. Turns out that my taking the eggs was the reason those fucking raptors were tailing us the entire time. It was awful, knowing that you're the reason everyone's lives are in danger.

"But you know how Grant is--worst curmudgeon since Scrooge. He got his point across, but he also managed to make me feel like crap.

"So now I'm feeling guilty and I was still scared as fuck, so when we got to this… well, I guess it was an aviary. It was filled with pterodactyls. And those things are vicious! It was like Hitchcock's  _The Birds._  They were dive-bombing us, and I knew we weren't going to make it out of there. And that pressure was getting to me, the disappointment… God, I hated the idea that I'd disappointed Grant. And I was so stressed. I just wanted it over, however that happened. So I told them to go and I distracted the creatures.

"I thought I was dead. Hell, I should have been dead. But Grant called Ellie--she was married to some guy in the government at the time--and she got the Navy and the National Guard and every other damn guy with a gun to come to the island. They saved me. I was pretty beat up. I've still got nightmares about those animals. But I made it. And at the end of it, Grant forgave me. I didn't deserve it, but he forgave me."

Billy gazed off into the distance, looking so much older than his thirty-odd years. "I learned a lot that day," he said. "Wised up on a bunch of things. But it comes with a price. It always comes with a price. I was on sleeping pills for months, and therapy for a good year. There are still times that I can't sleep at night." He looked down at his hands, holding them up for inspection. "And in case I ever start to forget, I've got these…"

Blue had seen his scars many a time, digging in the dirt with him. She'd been mildly curious, and she knew that other students speculated as to what caused them, but she'd never really given them much thought. Now she knew. Those thin white marks, like stabs of a scissor blade, weren't from any metal tools. They were from razor-sharp beaks.

"Held my arms up over my head to shield myself," he explained.

Tim gave a low whistle, but it wasn't disrespectful. It was like a young soldier seeing a veteran's war wounds. Blue felt a surge of respect for her mentor, and gratefulness that she'd gotten out so unscathed. Her scars were painful, yes, but they were emotional. They weren't spelled out on her body for all to see and gape at.

Billy looked up. "Looks like the sun's beginning to set," he observed. "Story time is over. Tim, you come with me. Let's see what these bozos are up to."

Tim got up, retrieving a handgun from the bag. Billy grabbed a rifle, and the two started out, quickly vanishing into the jungle.

Roland glanced over at Blue. She could feel his stare, and shifted uncomfortably. He hadn't said a word throughout Billy's entire narrative--in fact, he hadn't appeared to be listening at all. But now he was staring at her, eagle-eyed, and she felt like she was under a microscope.

"You lost someone, last time you were here," he observed.

Blue turned to look at him. Her shock was showing on her face, she knew, and so she didn't bother lying. "How did you know?"

A vein in Roland's temple flinched. "Because I lost someone, too."

Blue cocked her head--a habit she'd picked up from Red. "Who was it?"

Roland sighed. "My partner. Ajay was his name. Ajay Sidhu. Met him while on a hunt in India. We were inseparable." He paused. "He was always nervous for me, claiming I'd get too close to a lion or something and lose a leg. In the end, he was the one who got too close."

The hunter glared at nothing in particular, his jaw clenching. "Peter Ludlow was a bastard. I knew that. I knew what this island could do, too. Hammond hired a hunting buddy of mine back when Grant and the others came here. He got his stomach chewed out by a raptor. But it was the greatest hunt of my life: a T-Rex! The king of the prehistoric jungle! So I took the job. And I paid the price."

Roland fell silent, and the two of them sat companionably for a moment. Blue cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It must have been awful."

"Didn't even get to say goodbye. Send him off, you know."

"I'm sorry," Blue said again. She knew how empty her words must sound to the man. She remembered how hollow Nathan's words of comfort were to her, after having to leave Red behind.

"Nothing we can do about it, now." Roland replied. "Best person I knew… could make a good breakfast out of anything…" He paused, snapping himself out of his reverie. "But it's done. Over. You can't bring 'em back."

"It's more the question of what I could have done differently that bothers me," Blue confided.

Roland gave her that piercing look again. "Who did you lose?" He asked. "Your stepbrother made it off, if I recall."

"We all made it off," Blue said. Then she amended her statement. "Well, except for this one friend of Nathan's. But Oliver, Caleb, Robbie, Nathan and I all made it."

"Then who did you lose?" Roland asked, confused.

Blue opened her mouth, but was unsure of where or how to start. Fortunately, she was saved from answering by the return of Billy and Tim.

"So we got a good look around, and we found--Blue! Behind you!" Billy shouted, his rifle swinging up. Tim raised his gun as well.

Blue turned just in time for something huge and heavy to barrel into her, knocking her flat onto her back.


	4. Reunion and Revelation

Blue found herself helpless, pinned to the ground, staring up into the scaly face of a fully-grown Utahraptor. The creature had one foot on her chest, and was pushing his nose directly up against her face. She couldn't even blink for fear.

"Blue…" Billy said slowly, his voice shaking. "Don't… move…"

"I've never seen it stop like that," Tim said. Blue could practically hear the frown in his voice. "They just… attack. Sometimes they surround you and inspect you but once they pin you… it's over."

Blue wondered how he could know something like that.

"Roland?" Billy asked.

"Dunno," Roland muttered. "It's not hurting her. Don't know what it's doing."

Blue stared up into the raptor's eyes. The dinosaur continued to stare at her.

Then it cocked its head.

Blue gasped. "Red?" She asked.

The raptor made what could have been a smile.

"Red? Good boy?" Blue asked.

The raptor bobbed its head.

"Red!" Blue cried. "Off, Red, off!"

Red hopped off of her. Blue scrambled to her feet, throwing her arms around the creature's neck. "Good boy, Red! Oh, I've missed you! I missed you every day! I love you, you're a good boy, Red! You're my good boy!"

The raptor nuzzled Blue happily, making content rumbling noises in his chest. Behind her, Billy and Tim gaped. Roland just nodded quietly, like he'd received the answer to a question.

After a good minute or so of nuzzling and hugging and Blue telling Red how much she loved him and missed him and what a good boy he was, she pulled back and turned to the others.

"Boys, meet Red," Blue said, gesturing to the raptor. "He's my raptor."

"What the fuck?" Tim sputtered.

Blue looked up at Red. When she'd had to abandon him, he'd been about an inch shorter than she was, and had a tiny frame. Now he was about two feet taller, and a lot bulkier. "You're all grown up now, Red. You're a big boy now." She smiled, patting him on the back. She had to stand on tiptoes to put her arms around his neck now.

"How did… what… you…" Billy seemed at a loss for words.

Tim raised his gun. "I don't trust it. It's a killer."

Blue snapped her fingers.

She wasn't sure if Red would remember the gesture. She'd trained him to respond to both verbal and physical commands. A hand held up meant 'stop,' while a clap meant 'roll over.' Her arm held up meant 'hold,' and if she dropped her arm, it meant 'attack.'

Snapping her fingers meant 'leap.'

Red leapt forward, tackling Tim and pinning him just as he had pinned Blue moments before. The young man was so startled that he didn't have time to fire off the gun. The weapon fell to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Tim said shakily. "Did you just…?"

"Yes," Blue said sternly. She walked over so that she was standing right by Tim's head. "And I taught him a bunch of other commands as well. Red and I were both trapped in a raptor attack. I saved his life, and he saved mine. He attacked a pack of his own kind to keep me safe. So I will not, under any circumstances, see him harmed. You got it, wise guy?"

Tim nodded.

"Because if you don't, I'm sure Red's pretty hungry."

"That's enough," Roland said.

"Off," Blue commanded.

Red hopped off of Tim. The young man glared at the raptor, and Blue, before getting up and dusting himself off. "If you'd been what I went through, you wouldn't be so keen to play 'dino-whisperer'," he shot.

"And just what  _did_  you go through, Tim? I'm curious," Blue retorted. "Everyone else told their stories last night at the meeting. Billy just told us his. But I haven't heard a peep out of you. Why do you deserve to be here?"

"It's none of your business," Tim snapped.

"It's not?" Blue replied just as angrily. "You just threatened my raptor, you've been nothing but a thorn in my side this entire time, and we've all shared our horrible, scarring stories so what gives you the right to keep silent?" She stepped closer. "Why are you here, Tim?"

"Because my grandfather created this fucking place!" Tim shouted. "It's my responsibility to take care of it!"

Now it was Blue's turn to stare in shock. Billy and Roland also looked pretty surprised. In fact, Billy literally smacked his face with the palm of his hand.

"Of course… you look just like your sister," he groaned.

It clicked.

"Lex's maiden name is Murphy," Blue breathed. "You're Timmy--you're her brother. You went with her to Jurassic Park with Grant and Ellie and Ian."

Tim bowed mockingly. "One and the same."

Blue felt like an idiot for not having seen it before. Not only was Billy right about the physical similarities, but Tim Murphy? Timmy? The name should have tipped her off right away.

"Lex told you the story, I'm sure," Tim said. "I wanted to keep silent. Trying to bury the past, I guess. I don't know. I loved dinosaurs before I came here, and I still loved them afterwards. This was started by my grandfather. He created this mess, and while he's not around anymore to fix it, I am. It's my responsibility to make sure that those bastards don't go screwing around with nature, 'cause if you try and do that, nature screws right back. And she's vicious."

Blue stared at him, and while she was still angry, she understood his distrust of Red. After what he must have been through, she was surprised he'd agreed to come back. If it weren't for Red, she would probably hate all raptors, too.

At least now she knew the truth. And, maybe, she respected Tim just a little. But only just.


	5. Just Once

The best plans are the simple ones: the ones that are straightforward, relatively airtight, but leave room for improvisation if something unexpected crops up. But of course, with the best plans, there's no room for anything unexpected because everything has been considered, prepared, and accounted for.

While their plan was simple, and pretty straightforward, it definitely wasn't the best. Of course, this was realized in retrospect, as things usually are.

BioSyn had hired some big-game hunters, a few paleontologists, and a group of native workers to systematically hunt and capture a male and female dinosaur of various species. It was, as Roland had said, "Ludlow all over again."

At the end of the day, any captured dinosaurs were placed in one of the pens at the main complex, and the crew of twenty or so men went to sleep. The plan was to follow the crew and take pictures of them in action, then sneak over and nab a few photos during the night. Then they'd call the chopper and depart, giving Lex the evidence she needed to sue the asses off of every last exec at BioSyn.

The daytime part of things went pretty well. It was difficult staying out of sight while managing to get close enough for good photos, but they did all right. It was during the night excursion that things started to go south.

They had split up, Roland and Billy taking the worker's quarters while Tim and Blue went to snap pictures of the caged dinosaurs.

The massive cages and holding pens gleamed menacingly in the moonlight. Or maybe that was just Blue's overactive imagination. Red had been left outside with strict instructions to 'hold.' Blue hated having him out of her sight, even for a minute. Red was clearly worried that she would leave again, because he kept making distressed whining noises in his throat. Blue had promised him that she would return, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was still upset.

Now she was in a room, with no raptor protection, and feeling completely exposed. Tim, on the other hand, seemed to be completely at ease. In his element, even. He snuck around, quietly taking pictures. The animals seemed a little uneasy at his presence but seemed to realize he meant no harm. Blue began to move among the caged creatures, sensing their distress.

"It's okay," she murmured soothingly. She reached out to a Stegosaurus, smoothing her hand over its hide and patting it. "It's all going to be okay. We'll get you out of here." The animal seemed to calm under her touch, closing its eyes. The distressed moans it had been making since they'd entered the room ceased, and the dinosaur even leaned into her touch a little.

"Whoa," Tim whispered, letting his breath out in a slow whoosh. "You really have some kind of magic touch."

Blue smiled, blushing a little. "It's just natural for me. I want to help them. It worked on the animals at the wildlife rescue center I used to volunteer at."

"Really?" Tim asked. "You really are a saint."

"I'm no saint," Blue chuckled.

"No, seriously. I've heard about you. Billy and Alan both brag about you--or argue about who is your 'mentor.' You got a full-ride scholarship; and that's not easy in a field like paleontology."

Blue blanched upon hearing such praise. "They really say stuff like that about me?" She was truly surprised. Grant wasn't really one to dispense praise, and while Billy was on the opposite end of the scale and complimented every student constantly, the fact that he was always praising everyone meant that a good word wasn't as prized. But hearing that both men thought of her as a good student--as  _their_  student--filled her with joy.

"You have no idea how much it means to me to hear that," Blue confided. "Thank you."

Tim shrugged. "Hey, it took me two days of fleeing dinosaurs for Grant to even admit that I was 'all right,' and another year for him to give me legitimate praise."

"How old were you when you came here?" Blue asked.

"Ten," Tim answered. "Lex was twelve, and the biggest computer geek you've ever met. She's still one of the best hackers I know. I never would have thought of her as a CEO, but… y'know how life is."

"I'll bet you never thought you'd be doing something like this," Blue said.

"Coming back here?" Tim gestured around them. "No. Paleontology? Yes. I know it sounds weird, but after all that happened I still loved dinosaurs. I think I even loved them more."

"Same here," Blue agreed.

There was a pause during which she noticed that Tim was rather handsome, and that maybe he wasn't such an annoying person after all. He gave her a quirky half-smile, like he was going to say something, but then one of the dinosaurs made a loud moan and they were jolted back to the present.

"We should get started," Blue said quickly.

"Of course." Tim nodded.

They began to move around the room.

Blue was quietly taking photos of a pair of Triceratops--without the flash--when she heard the sound of clinking and metal. She turned to look at Tim, who was bent over the lock of a cage holding two Gallimimus.

"What are you doing?" She hissed as she approached him.

"Setting them free, what does it look like I'm doing?" Tim asked.

"What? Are you insane?" Blue asked. "You can't do that!"

The lock slid open and Tim moved aside. He grabbed Blue's arm and moved her out of the way as well. "Looks like I just did."

Blue watched in half amazement, half horror, as the Gallimimus slowly nudged the door open. Upon realizing that they were free, they bolted out, past the two gaping humans, and out into the night.

Tim grinned. "Now tell me that wasn't cool."

Blue turned to him, eyes blazing. "You are twice the idiot that I thought you were!" She whisper-shouted. "Do you have any idea what you could have done? You could've been hurt! They could've made tons of noise! They could have gone right where the BioSyn team could see them! You could've–"

Tim covered her mouth with his hand. Blue bit it, making him let go with a muffled "Ouch!"

"You're an idiot and a half," Blue stated.

Tim glared at her. "Okay; first of all, there was no need to bite me. Second of all, what's the harm? Don't you want to set these animals free? They're miserable in here, Blue. I know that you can see that. Sure, we're getting evidence to take these bastards down but what are they going to do in the meantime? Isn't that the whole reason that you left Red here?"

Blue couldn't hide her guilt or shame. Tim nodded. "You forced him to stay here, didn't you. You abandoned him so that the scientists and the big wigs in Washington wouldn't get to him."

"I didn't have a choice!" Blue whispered fiercely. "And it's eaten me up every day since!"

"Then help these guys like you helped Red! Free them!" Tim insisted.

"But they could go crazy!" Blue protested.

"Crazy?" Tim snorted. "They're going crazy in these pigpens, Blue. They just want out. Look, all we have to do is take pictures, maybe a video, and then set them free. We have evidence. Billy and Roland are getting the pictures of the plans and paperwork and crap right now. It's fine."

Blue glared at him, but the points he'd made were tugging on her. She'd hated to leave Red on the island, but it was best for him. These dinosaurs were absolutely miserable here. She could sense it. Anyone with eyes and a brain could sense it. And it wouldn't ruin the lawsuit at all. In fact, they might be saving the creatures from experiments or mishandling or other harm.

"Fine," she snapped. "But if this goes horribly wrong, I will sic Red onto you."

Tim grinned at her. "Let's get to work then."

They did, indeed, take a video, as well as a couple dozen pictures. It only took a few minutes, and then it was on to picking the locks. That took a bit longer.

They had just freed one Stegosaurus and were moving onto the next one when Blue felt the alarm bells go off in her head. She froze, frowning.

"Everything okay?" Tim asked. He peered into her face, concerned. "Blue?"

Blue looked around. When had she gotten this particular feeling before?

* * *

_Hold. Hold. Hold._

_Blue will come._

_Hold._

_Blue left last time. She left for a very long time._

_But she will come._

_Blue said hold._

_Smell… he can smell Blue, and the one they call Tim, nearby. Lots of prey smells, too. There is lots of prey nearby. All the prey are distressed and upset. Blue and Tim are calm._

_He smells something else. Like him, but not like him. Same as he is, but not him. Similar. Dangerous… dangerous to Blue._

_Blue said hold._

_But Blue is not safe._

_He goes to find her._

* * *

"Blue… you gotta answer me." Tim said. He sounded worried.

"Shhh," Blue said. She thought hard, but nothing was coming. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed, allowing the feeling to overwhelm her. As she did so, a memory came floating back. She wanted to snatch at it but held back. Instead she waited, letting it drift to the forefront of her mind. It flashed through her and for a moment, she was transported back in time, back to when she was sixteen.

A hotel room. Looking out the window. Trees… jungle… movement…

A raptor in the shadow of the jungle near the complex.

That was the time she'd last had that feeling--seeing the predator, for just an instant, and not even getting a full glimpse, not even realizing what it was, but knowing enough to realize that something was wrong. She'd gone to Nathan, and the raptors had attacked.

There was danger, here, and now, and it was coming.

"We have to get out. Something's wrong."

Tim frowned. "What kind of wrong?"

* * *

_The claw in the lock moved almost delicately, with more precision then one would expect of an animal, no matter how intelligent._

_Just one more twist and…_

_Free!_

_Butting the door open with her head, she turned back to her sisters and brothers. She rasped out a command. "Come."_

_The others followed, pouring out into the night. She sniffed the air._

_The ones who had trapped them were near._

_It was time to hunt. Not for food, but for revenge. They were a new pack, trying to take over. There was only room for one pack, and that was hers._

_It was time to hunt, and time to kill._

* * *

"Ah!" Blue gave a little squeal as something butted her in the back. She turned. "Red!" She said, relieved.

"Is that what you were sensing?" Tim asked.

"No." Blue shook her head. "No, Red wouldn't make me so nervous. I'm comfortable with him. I don't recognize him as a threat or even a predator. This is different." She noticed his incredulous expression. "Tim, I'm serious, we have to leave.  _Now_."

Tim looked like he was about to say something but, again, he was interrupted. This time, but something landing on top of the cage they were standing at. They looked up.

A raptor, claws, teeth and eyes all gleaming, stared down at them in malicious glee.

"Run?" Tim suggested.

Blue nodded in agreement. "Run!"

The two of them took off. The raptor pounced, but Red was there instead of juicy human, and he threw the raptor off of him like it was a rag doll. The creature crashed into the side of an empty cage and slumped to the ground, unconscious. Red then ran after Blue and Tim, quickly catching up to them. At first the raptor was content to just keep pace with them, but then suddenly he became more urgent. He kept butting his head against Blue, trying to nudge her along. When that didn't make her move any faster, he picked her up by the back of her shirt and began to run at full speed.

"What the hell?" Tim gasped out, struggling to keep up. The raptor was leaving him in the dust, heading for the complex.

There was a mighty roar, and the entire BioSyn team, along with Billy and Roland, burst out of the complex. They were quickly followed by a humongous T-Rex.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Tim groaned. "Why can't things ever go according to plan, just once?"

"You idiots!" Billy was shouting. "You stole a fucking baby fucking T fucking Rex! What the fuck were you fucking thinking?"

Roland muttered something that looked suspiciously like  _déjà vu_ , but no one could hear him over the deafening roars of the massive creature behind them. Red caught up to the two men as they huddled in the shadows of the complex and dropped Blue, recognizing them as a part of her pack. Tim managed to catch up a minute afterwards.

"The raptors are out--I think they picked the lock on their holding cell," Tim told them in between gulps of air. "You?"

"They stole a T-Rex baby," Billy huffed out.

"So basically we're screwed," Blue said, clinging to Red instinctively.

"Where's the baby?" Roland asked. "They'll come for the baby; we have to free it, wherever it is, so that the mother can take it home."

"It's probably in a cage like the others," Tim said. "But we can't go there; that's where the raptors are."

"We can't leave the baby in a cage!" Blue protested.

"You got any other ideas?" Tim asked. "Because I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of getting my liver chomped on by an eight-foot lizard!"

"Dinosaurs are related to birds, you moron!" Blue shouted, frustrated and willing to vent her anger on whatever she could.

They watched from the shadows as the T-Rex chased after the men. There were a few raptors about as well. The screams and cries for help and God and Mommy were sickening.

"It's like the nightclub…" Blue whispered.

"I never saw these many victims," Tim whispered.

"I have," Blue and Roland said at the same time, in the same dull, bitter tone.

Tim wrapped his arm around Blue's shoulder. She found that she didn't mind it. Red growled slightly and bared his teeth a little, but when he saw Blue's reaction he relaxed.

_Tim is Blue's mate. That is okay, then. He is allowed to touch her like that._

If Blue could read her raptor's thoughts, she would have smacked him.

"She's not going to stop until she finds her baby," Roland warned.

"And those raptors aren't going to stop until they get revenge," Billy said. "Trust me, I know. If you're in their territory, or taken something of theirs, or violated one of their 'pack rules'… you are dead meat."

Blue remembered the egg thing and shuddered at the thought of being tracked by raptors for days. She was certain that she would go mad.

Roland stood up, moving from his crouching position to face the others. "Look," he explained, "We have to salvage what lives we can. And the best way to do that is to free the baby. That way we'll at least have the T-Rex taken care of."

"What about the raptors?" Blue asked.

"If we can get everyone off of their territory, which is inland, I think that they'll let us go. They think that we're encroaching on their territory. If we leave after they've killed some of us, they'll think they've frightened us off and will leave."

Billy nodded. "I think it's our best bet."

"Right then." Roland slung off his backpack and pulled out the weapons, handing them off. "Let's go."

The five of them slowly made their way back to the holding pens, sticking to the shadows and moving only on Roland's signals. They managed to make it here without incident, and slipped silently among the cages. Roland appeared to be listening quite hard for something. After a minute, the sound of a distressed, almost mewling sound reached their ears. Roland's eyes lit up.

"That's the baby," he whispered, his voice so low that it was merely a rustle on the wind.

Blue wondered how he knew so much about T-Rex parenting habits. The group approached the largest cage in the area. It was covered by a tarp, so they couldn't see what was inside, but it was definitely where the sound was coming from.

Roland threw off the cover and they all sucked in a breath.

A baby T-Rex, only half the size of Blue, was curled in the corner of the cage. Its large eyes brimmed with tears, and it continued to mewl pitifully for its mother. Upon seeing the new faces, it rose to its feet and made its way cautiously over to them, sniffing. Once it realized that not one of the newcomers was its mother, it let out a high-pitched cry.

"Sh,." Blue said soothingly. The baby, amazingly, turned to her. She gingerly reached out her hand, palm up and flat so that it couldn't bite her fingers off. The baby smelled her carefully, then made the mewling sound again.

"Now, now, baby, none of that," Blue said gently. "We're going to set you free and Mama's going to come get you. Isn't that right? Mama's going to come; yes she is. She loves her baby very much."

The baby listened to her words, soaking them in. Blue doubted that it understood her, but the soothing tone of her voice must have helped it because it stood, silent, resting its head against the cage bars so that Blue could stroke it.

"That's a good baby. You're such a good baby," Blue crooned.

Tim and Billy got to work on the lock, which was more complicated then the ones holding the herbivores.

"If this is the kind of lock that the raptors picked, then I am officially dumber then a dinosaur," Billy muttered.

"Speaking of raptors…" Roland said, his mouth barely moving.

Everyone looked at him. Roland moved his head, just barely, out into the darkness. "There are some headed this way."

"What do we do?" Blue hissed.

"You almost done?" Roland asked the two men. Billy shook his head while Tim ignored them all, focusing on the lock. "Right." Roland nodded. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Blue whispered frantically.

"To settle an old score," Roland replied.

Red looked at Blue. He sensed the raptors as well, and knew they were dangerous. Blue shook her head. "Stay, Red." She paused. "I think this is something Roland needs to do on his own."

Tim fist pumped. "Yes! Success!" He whispered.

There was the sound of gunshots coming from the direction Roland had gone, followed by the distinctive cry of raptors. Chills shot down Blue's spine like daggers of ice.

"Come on, baby," hhe said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Let's go find Mama."

The baby T-Rex followed the sound of Blue's voice, out of the cage and down a few feet. Blue drew in a shaky breath. "Okay, so now we can–"

The unmistakable sound of pain and fear, tinged with Roland's distinctive tone, signaled a new raptor victim. They all turned towards the sound. Blue wrapped her arms around Red's neck.

"Oh my God…" She whispered.

"Poor guy," Billy whispered.

"Fuck," Tim swore.

They had lost an ally, a guide, and a good man.

"Please let him be dead please let him be dead please let him be dead…" Blue whispered. Raptors were known to eat their still-screaming, struggling victims alive.

Tim was the first to snap out of it. "I hate to break the moment of respectful silence, but we have to get moving and get this baby back before everyone dies, including ourselves."

The baby in question had started moving around on its own and was a good few feet away from the group. It looked around and, seeing no familiar figure of Mama, began to mewl and cry once more.

"Ah, shit," Tim muttered.

"You have  _got_  to watch your language," Blue reprimanded him.

"It relieves stress!" Tim argued.

This time it was Blue who was cut off from saying anything as the mother T-Rex, footsteps causing miniature earthquakes, appeared on the horizon.

"Run!" Billy shouted.


	6. Purple

Billy and Tim dashed to the left. Blue and Red darted to the right.

The baby stayed in the middle, making tiny jumps and happily mewling as the mother approached. She bent down and nuzzled her child much like Red nuzzled Blue. The baby cooed as his mother rumbled low in her belly and began to lead her baby away. Although the humans would never know it, she would lead her little girl through the jungle to her skeleton-strewn lair, where she would be reunited with her father and older brother who, despite suffering a broken leg when he was about the same age as his baby sister, was fortunate enough to get it patched up by a scientist/photographer and a Greenpeace activist, and was able to walk just fine.

The group of humans, meanwhile, was decidedly split up. Billy and Tim ran towards the complex, breaking into and swiping one of the all-terrain vehicles the BioSyn team had brought with them. As Tim drove, Billy radioed for the copter to come and pick them up-- _now._

Blue and Red, on the other hand, rushed around the back of the complex and through the jungle. This was Red's territory, and Blue remembered it well enough from her last excursion, so finding the helipad wouldn't be a problem. It was the getting-there-in-one-piece part that was a little tricky.

The cries of the raptors hadn't ceased, nor had the shouts and screams of the BioSyn team. It was every man for himself, and unfortunately man wasn't doing a very good job at it. Blue frantically wondered where Billy and Tim had gotten to, but she didn't have time to worry about them. She just had to get to the helipad and pray that they were safe.

And then, to make things worse, it started to rain.

She'd forgotten it was fucking hurricane season. Mother Nature was leading them on merry game, wasn't she? The bitch.

Blue did her best, honest she did, but the ground quickly became slick and muddy. It was terrifyingly dark, and while the cries of both predator and prey had begun to fade she didn't trust the silence. Who knew what else lay in wait here? Between her fear, the gooey ground, and her haste, Blue slipped and fell, drenching her entire front half in mud and getting some flecks on her face as well.

Without even breaking his stride, Red picked her up once again, weaving his way through the jungle at breakneck speed. Blue twisted just enough to wrap her arms around his neck and lift up, swinging onto his back. It was like being plastered to the bastard child of an ostrich and a horse. To his credit, Red didn't protest at this interesting turn of events, merely shifting his center of balance to accommodate Blue's weight.

It had taken Blue an entire day to get to the helipad from the welcome center last time. Riding Red, it took half an hour.

She could see two figures shouting, but it wasn't until she was closer that she could hear them over the torrential downpour.

"We have to find her!" Tim was shouting. "That raptor's dedicated to her, I'll give him that, but there have to be a dozen of those things out there!"

"We can't risk it! We'll just end up dead!" Billy argued. "Our best bet is to wait here and see if she shows up!"

It was just like the last time, only with different people and at night with rain instead of during the day with sun. Blue shouted from Red's back. "Tim! Billy!"

Both men turned, blinking incredulously at Blue's interesting position. Red skittered to a stop in front of them and she dismounted awkwardly.

Without preamble, Tim hauled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her. It wasn't the most romantic or finessed kiss she'd ever had, but Blue thoroughly enjoyed it all the same. And it certainly made for a good story a few years down the road. Soaking wet, covered in mud, barely able to stand him at the beginning of the day… yup, this was the stuff that romantic comedies were made of.

When they finally broke apart, Tim held her to him fiercely. "Thank God you're okay," he whispered.

Blue pulled back a little. "Is that blood on your shirt?" She inquired.

"Guy got his arm torn off right in front of me," Tim admitted with a shudder. "You could hear the bone snap."

Blue felt her insides twist and thought that she might vomit. Oh yes, her kids were going to love this first kiss story.

Over the sound of the wind and rain could be heart the electric heartbeat of the chopper's blades. They all turned, watching with joy as it began to descend.

"I'm surprised he even made it in this weather!" Billy shouted.

"With what my sister pays him, he should come if there's a blizzard!" Tim replied.

Red saw the machine and immediately began to growl. He tugged on Blue's shirt possessively. Blue turned to him. She couldn't… she couldn't do this again. She could read the emotion in Red's eyes as surely as if he were talking to her.

_Don't leave me. Blue stay. Don't leave again. Let me be your good boy. I love you._

"Oh, Red," Blue breathed quietly.

Tim laid a hand on her shoulder. "Um, I hate to brag, but my family is kind of rich. And my sister is the CEO of a major corporation that technically owns this raptor."

Blue turned. "What?"

Tim blinked. "Didn't you know? All the dinosaurs were created by InGen, and are therefore legally considered products of the company, which means that InGen owns them."

Blue gaped at him. "So… I can keep him? And you'll protect him?"

"He's yours," Tim promised, "Come hell or high water."

Blue threw her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She cried, kissing him on the cheek.

"If that's the reaction I'm going to get, I'll get you a dinosaur every day," Tim replied, grinning.

"Hey! What's the hold up?" The pilot called. "Let's get out of this weather!"

"Come on!" Billy called. They all started towards the copter. When Blue saw that Red wasn't moving, she turned and beckoned him.

"Come, Red!" She called.

Red gave a cry of joy and ran up, nuzzling her. He followed her happily into the copter, curling up as best he could alongside the three humans.

"Good boy, Red. Good boy," Blue said, stroking his nose. "I love you."

The chopper took off as Blue curled against Tim, Red's head in her lap, her hand still stroking his nose. Billy collapsed against the bench on the opposite side, mumbling about how he was too old for this kind of shit.

Just as the chopper cleared the waterfall, there was a gut-wrenching roar, and the Spinosaurus burst out from behind the wall of water, leaping and just barely missing the metal bird. Blue screamed, and both Tim and Red jumped.

"Told you there was one!" Billy chuckled triumphantly.

Maybe it was the stress, or the adrenaline, or the relief that she was finally safe, or a combination of all three, but Blue found it hysterically funny and laughed until she cried and finally fell asleep, using Tim's shoulder as a pillow.


End file.
